Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant elected the claims 1-3, and 10-12 of Group I for examination, with traverse. Examiner would like to further explain why claims 4-6, and 13-15, and thew newly added claims 19 and 20 are still restricted and are withdrawn from consideration.
Firstly, Group II’s claims 4-6, 13-15 and 19-20 pertain to a different invention for their focus on aborting a NAS transport procedure when determined that the UE is registered to an unallowed PLMN at the current location. Group I’s claims 1-3, and 10-12 are focused on receiving a rejection message including the cause of the rejection for not allowing the UE to operate at a location, there is no aborting feature because nothing has started. The two Groups are focused on a variant situation, and each does not require the other to operate. Therefore, Group II are restricted and withdrawn from further consideration. However, Group II can be submitted in a divisional application for consideration. As for now, claims 1-3 and 10-12 will be considered.
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS(es) submitted on 8/10/2023, 2/9/2024, 7/22/2025 and 12/24/2025 have been considered.
Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration filed on 8/10/2023 has been acknowledged.
Drawings
Drawing(s) submitted on 8/10/2023 have been acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sadique et al. (US 2022/0232463; hereinafter Sadique).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Sadique discloses a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from an access and mobility management function (AMF), a downlink (DL) non access stratum (NAS) TRANSPORT message including information on a cause indicating that a public land mobile network (PLMN) is not allowed to operate at a location of the UE ([0128]-[0129], [0138]-[0140]: AMF sending to the UE a NAS rejection message with reason for rejection, such as PLMN not supported in current country location);
identifying whether the DL NAS TRANSPORT message includes a 5th generation session management (5GSM) message, wherein the 5GSM message was not forwarded ([0140]: wherein the NAS response may OPTIONALLY include the extended 5GMM cause IE within the message); and
based on the DL NAS TRANSPORT message including the information on the cause, determining not to transmit, to the AMF, an uplink (UL) NAS TRANSPORT message to transport any of one or more data types ([0141]: the UE refrains from performing PLMN search and registration procedures),
wherein the UE has registered to the PLMN that is not allowed to operate at the location of the UE ([0128]-[0129], [0138]-[0140]: AMF sending to the UE a NAS rejection message with reason for rejection, such as PLMN not supported in current country location).
Claims 2 and 11, Sadique discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the UE has registered to the PLMN via a satellite next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) cell ([0130]: UE reselecting to NG-RAN on a different PLMN), and
wherein the DL NAS TRANSPORT message including the information on the cause is received from the satellite NG-RAN cell (Fig. 5; [0148]: satellite transmit DL message).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Sadique discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data types include at least one of:
a single 5th generation session management (5GSM) message ([0140]: 5GMM cause IE within the message);
short message service (SMS);
a long term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) message;
a service object request (SOR) transparent container;
a UE policy container;
a UE parameters update transparent container;
a location services message;
a cellular internet of things (CIoT) user data container; or
a service-level-anonymous access (AA) container.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUCK HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-7866. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10am - 6pm.
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/CHUCK HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644